WATCH: Dick Vitale provides uplifting health update
Ring the bell, Dickie V. You won the battle.
ESPN personality Dick Vitale took to Twitter to confirm he completed his chemotherapy on Thursday. It’s official — Vitale has beaten lymphoma.
“It was RING THE BELL TIME!” Vitale tweeted. “Yes it was a tough 7 months but it was super hearing Dr Brown @SMHCS say that I have zero cancer currently. I was inspired daily by the famous words of my late buddy Jimmy V “Don’t Give up DON’T EVER GIVE UP!”
Dick Vitale’s battle with lymphoma comes to an end
It’s been a long road for Vitale, who announced his diagnosis in October. But after he got the news, he made his way back to the sidelines to call some games. One of his more notable calls came when Dayton defeated Kansas on a buzzer-beater early in the season in November.
In January, toward the end of the college basketball regular season, he had to refrain from talking because of vocal cord damage. That meant he had to step away from the microphone for the rest of the season to ensure a full recovery. The college basketball world rallied around him, and he was honored at the SEC Tournament.
Just before Selection Sunday, Vitale said his PET scans came back clear and no cancer was showing. Now, after his final round of chemo, he’s officially heading into remission.
It marked the second time Vitale received a cancer diagnosis. He previously battled — and beat — melanoma late last year. The lymphoma diagnosis came a couple months after that, but that wasn’t going to get him, either.
Vitale has been a staple at ESPN since joining the network 41 years ago. He coached at the college level as an assistant at Rutgers and served as Detroit Mercy’s head coach from 1973-77. Vitale served as the Detroit Pistons head coach from 1978-79 before he got a microphone in his hand, eventually becoming one of the most beloved figures in college basketball.